"What's Your Back-Up Plan?"

"...with him he took a present for his brother Esau." (Gen. 32:13)

Jacob was headed home, but he was afraid. He had a promise from God for his welfare and safety, but Jacob's men had said, 'Esau is coming and he has 400 men with him.' And the scripture had said, 'Jacob was greatly afraid.' Jacob had tricked his brother out of his birthright, and the Bible records that Esau had promised to kill Jacob.

Jacob had an incredible time of prayer in 32:9-12. But now, just in case God doesn't come through, he puts his own back-up plan in motion. Just in case God cannot handle the situation. So how often do we do the same thing? We come to God in prayer, turn it all over to Him, and then plan out what we will do, 'just in case'.

Are you trusting God with all of your heart? As Prov. 3:5-6 says, Are you doing that without leaning to your own understanding? How often do we affirm in a worship service or in our Quiet Times that we need to lean wholly on God only to turn right around and put our own plan in motion? Maybe we don't think God works fast enough? Maybe we think He is too busy to be bothered with our need?

Sometimes God tells us to make plans. But when He has promised to act and told us to wait on Him, it is simply a lack of faith on our part that we put our own plan in motion. The opposite of faith is most typically expressed as fear. Don't let your fears keep you from trusting God?